From the Editor 

e5651521-0a79-4662-9408-c8f0e9d97393In times of crisis like the current aftermath of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, most people’s ability to help is restricted to financial donations or prayer. But as medical professionals, some of our readers may be in a position to offer hands-on help.

If you’re interested in volunteering, we encourage you to check out AORN’s list of earthquake relief resources for an extensive list of organizations engaged in Haiti relief.

Also, AORN is sharing stories and pictures of perioperative nurses working on the relief effort. You can read them here.
Julie Lancaster, Editor

New Methods to Counter Organ Rejection

A 54-year-old Belgian woman has successfully received a windpipe transplant using a donor windpipe that was first implanted in her arm to grow new tissue before being placed in her throat. This relatively new procedure allowed for her body’s own tissue to line the organ, decreasing the chances of rejection common in so many transplants and enabling the patient to stop taking anti-rejection drugs within about 10 months. Click to read the full story.

Popular Mechanics magazine has reported on the Belgian success along with other approaches scientists and pharmaceutical companies are using to counter organ rejection in their Jan. 28 story, Next-Gen Transplant Techniques Can Stop Organ Rejection.

Student in the Spotlight

Name: Beth Escueta Martinez
Credentials: RN, BSN, CNOR
City and State: Sugar Land, TX
Current Job: Staff Nurse, Kingsland Surgery Center,
Katy, TX
Student Status: Currently enrolled in NIFA’s FA online course; attended the SutureStar™ workshop in October 2009

RNFA – To the good life!

Why RNFA as the Next Step in a Gratifying Career?

By Beth Martinez

I have been a mother for 21 years, a wife for 23 years, a nurse for 32 years and a perioperative nurse for 27 years. I bet you think this aged nurse must be crazy going into the RNFA program at this point!

I graduated in 1977 from the Chinese General Hospital School of Nursing in the Philippines. During my student years, I had to wash, dry, and powder the gloves that we would re-sterilize. I remember that I had to save unused sutures and place them in jars to soak in a solution next to another jar that held the forceps we used to pick up the sutures. When I came to the United States in 1980, I had a bit of culture shock when my supervisor told me that I had to throw away gloves, unused sutures and drapes! OMG! I was able to adapt, but I am still a bit on the miser side. I’m concerned about cost containment and contributing to saving our environment.

My passion has always been perioperative services, especially scrubbing and assisting the surgeons in the OR. My earliest experience in the assisting role was during my rural training after nursing graduation: I had to suture a patient’s lacerated upper eyelid. I knew that it was not part of my nursing scope of practice, but the circumstances made me do what was best for the patient. The physician was with me the whole time; the patient returned home and the family was grateful.

After coming to the U.S., I worked as a Nursing Aide in Oak Park, IL. Then, after I passed the board exam, I moved to Houston, TX. I started at Rosewood Medical Center in 1981 and moved up in management, eventually becoming Associate Director of Perioperative Services. Then I worked at Methodist Sugar Land Hospital from 1998 to 2009, where my highest position was Director of Operating Room.

In early 2009, I was intending to continue my master’s degree, but my frequent scrubbing assignments led to a turning point in my life. I was able to observe closely how surgeons and First Assistants worked very well with each other. I asked the FAs questions about how they got there. How can I become one? What do I need to do? One of them just gave me the AORN/NIFA link and, thanks to this great computer technology, I got the information I needed.

When I enrolled in NIFA’s RNFA program. I moved to my current position as a staff nurse to help my future schedule as I complete my clinical work. I scrub for many surgeries including total joints, ortho/spine fusion, and peripheral vascular cases–most cases except open-heart cases.

The SutureStar™ workshop in Denver was truly a great experience. Words cannot express how this program is helping me carve my professional career into a gratifying and satisfying one. I am so excited that today nurses can learn and perform this job for the surgeons. The roles of nurses have evolved tremendously and I have seen part of that in my career. As another milestone in my life, I am hoping for a productive new role as a CRNFA.